At Bellator 31, one undefeated prospect punched his way into the promotion’s season-four welterweight tourney, and the finals of a women’s 115-pound tournament were set.

Bellator 31 took place Thursday at the L’Auberge du Lac Casino and Resort in Lake Charles, La., and aired live on Fox Sports.

Bellator newcomers Chris Lozano and Yoshiyuki Yoshida kicked off the televised card with an entertaining battle of wills.

UFC veteran and Judo standout Yoshida had a clear mandate to take the fight to the mat against the striking-savvy Lozano. From the bell, he charged across no man’s land and took shots along the way. But with his quick takedown and transition to mount, it looked like it might be an easy night.

Lozano, though, proved tougher than expected to hold down. He escaped the dicey position and threw a spinning elbow that briefly deposited the Japanese fighter on the mat. When Yoshida righted himself and gave chase, Lozano followed up with a straight right that again staggered the UFC vet.

Inexplicably, Lozano almost handed away the fight when he appeared to roll for a kneebar and ended up giving up his back. But he again managed to escape and went back to business in the second frame.

Yoshida then resumed his mission to get the fight to the mat, but Lozano was ready this time around. The undefeated prospect landed two knees to Yoshida’s head that again dropped the veteran and had him on thin ice.

A desperation takedown saved Yoshida, and he even managed to threaten Lozano with an armbar attempt. But he gave up position in doing so, and his opponent rained down punishment that had him turtling up as the second round neared its end.

The punishment caused Yoshida’s eye to swell uncontrollably, and between the second and third frames, his corner called off the fight.

It was the third consecutive loss for Yoshida (11-5 MMA, 0-1 BFC), who’s defeat to Mike Guymon at UFC 113 brought his octagon walking papers.

“I just had to take what I had and damage him any way I could,” Lozano (6-0 MMA, 1-0 BFC) said of his powerful strikes inside the clinch and on the canvas. “I just got busy, man. When I smell blood, I’m like a shark in the water.”

In the first women’s 115-pound tournament semifinal bout of the evening, Zoila Frausto squeaked out a controversial split-decision victory over Jessica Aguilar to advance to the finals.

Early concerns about Frausto’s tough weight cut proved unneeded as the Team Jorge Gurgel product stayed light on her feet and, in fact, almost entirely on her bicycle. (Frausto missed weight by four-tenths of a pound on her first attempt and came in at an acceptable 116 pounds on the second try.)

Aguilar spent the majority of the fight chasing down her opponent, though she bucked expectations that she would use her grappling abilities to take the fight where she had a paper advantage. Instead, she jammed in on Frausto and played the striking game.

What transpired largely was a point sparring affair, with no more than three strikes thrown per exchange. It appeared, though, that Aguilar landed a greater number of clean punches while avoiding Frausto’s bombs.

As the fight wore on, Aguilar began to time Frausto’s constant circling and sneak through a straight right hand that scored consistently. Frausto, meanwhile, played the hit-and-run attack and landed several stinging leg kicks, though she never managed to rock the American Top Team fighter with punches.

In the fight’s final frame, Aguilar turned up the pace and chased an increasingly tired Frausto with strikes. A right-hand left-hook combination caused the most damage to Frausto, who began to bleed out of her nose. Running low on options, Frausto dove twice for takedowns and nearly walked into a picture-perfect guillotine as the fight came to a close.

It appeared to be a clear-cut victory for Aguilar, who earned her semifinal berth with a submission victory over Lynn Alvarez. But in a bizarre tally, two judges gave the contest to Frausto (8-1 MMA, 2-0 BFC) with 30-27 scores. The other dissented completely and awarded Aguilar a 30-27 mark. Aguilar (9-4 MMA, 1-1 BFC) was stunned, and the audience vocalized its displeasure.

In the other women’s semifinal, undefeated sensation Megumi Fujii left no doubt in Lisa Ward‘s mind that she is the superior submission fighter.

Ward claimed she never tapped to an armbar Fujii applied in their first meeting more than three years ago in the now-defunct BodogFIGHT promotion.

This time, she most certainly tapped. Fujii (22-0 MMA, 3-0 BFC) starched her with a flurry of punches, got the takedown, and gained mount within two minutes. A first armbar attempt was blocked by the cage, but the second gave Ward (14-6 MMA, 2-1 BFC) no choice but to submit.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?